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Thursday, September 01, 2011

It was a long, hot afternoon, but yesterday's 'de-jacking' of our donkey boys went very well, thanks to our wonderful vet and farrier (who loved the cake and cookie bribes). Gus, Gnat, and Donkey Doodle Dandy are all recovering nicely, though today they would probably beg to differ.

I have some more photos of the big day I think you'll enjoy (nothing too graphic, don't worry!), but right now I'm headed out into the 100°+ hayfield to help pick up 180 bales of hay—a job we'll be recovering from tomorrow.

That's one sorry looking donkey. Is he still coming off the anesthetic in that pic? Looks like he's trying to keep his balance with his front legs all spraddled out. Poor little dude. Um... dudette? Semi-dude?

Hi Everybody,I know - I feel so bad for all of them. I'm just glad the whole long awaited ordeal is over. The good thing is that at least they didn't spend several weeks knowing the appointment was coming and worrying about it the whole time like I did. :)

Leslie,Yeah, that's Gus trying to wake up and stand up after the anesthesia started wearing off. They were all really wobbly.

Poor Dan (king of the herd) was so determined to get back on his hooves as soon as he regained consciousness that he actually toppled onto the grass and rolled completely over at least twice.

Little Gnat, on the other hand, watched Gus trying to stay upright, stood up himself, started teetering, and decided it was a good idea to just sit back down for a while. ;)

Awww, poor guys. It is all for the best, though, and they will have good lives even without sex drives.

Totally unrelated - I made your toffee/chip shortbread cookies recently and found a faster way to portion them out into small enough blobs. My smallest cookie scoop was 2x the size I liked the cookies to be, so it used to be a lengthy process of scooping blobs, cutting them in half, and then re-forming so they looked right.

Today I laid a piece of parchment paper on the counter & put the cookie dough on top, sort of spreading it in a lumpy layer. A piece of plastic wrap went on top & I started rolling the dough into a flat surface. Then I just cut them with a pizza wheel & used a butter knife to move them from the big piece of parchment onto a cookie sheet (that had another piece of parchment on it). I had to leave some gaps for slight cookie expansion.

It worked GREAT and I think the square shape works well. It gives you corners that get a little crispier than the sides (or middles). It also meant I could fit a whole batch of dough on just 2 cookie sheets (less space between the squares than between round cookies).

I normally hate rolled cookies because of having to add flour, but with this recipe it's EASY. That is my favorite cookie recipe of all time, BTW. You rock :)

December 2015 update: Hi! For some reason I can't figure out, Blogger hasn't been letting me leave comments on my own blog (!) for the last several months, so I've been unable to respond to your comments and questions. My apologies for any inconvenience! You're always welcome to email me: farmgirlfare AT gmail DOT com.

Hi! Thanks for visiting Farmgirl Fare and taking the time to write. While I'm not always able to reply to every comment, I receive and enjoy reading them all.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated, and I especially love hearing about your experiences with my recipes. Comments on older posts are always welcome!

Please note that I moderate comments, so if I'm away from the computer it may be a while before yours appears.

I try my best to answer all questions, though sometimes it takes me a few days. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, they fall through the cracks, and for that I sincerely apologize.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy your e-visits to our farm!